Out now on XBONE and Steam! If you already own the original release on Steam you get a 33% discount. It features higher res graphics, additional content, and 100% fewer penises apparently. I don't own a bone and my PC can't run it so I really don't know poo poo about it! Feel free to ask about it in the thread, people are chill and I'm sure someone will be happy to answer your questions.

PC release: Out now Xbox Live Arcade release: Out now everywhere 1600 MP

TU3 is out. Outposts are now numbered and you can tell another survivor follow you around.

Undead Labs may be a new studio, but it is run by Jeff Strain, lead programmer on World of Warcraft and a founder of ArenaNet to name a few accomplishments, and is staffed wall to wall with industry veterans from numerous backgrounds, including a goon the poor bastards, who came together to make this game happen.

State of Decay is a Third Person Post-Apocalyptic Survival Sim that has as much in common with XCOM (thanks Homeless Snail) and MGS: Peace Walker as it does the current Resident Evil games or Dead Island, but on the surface plays similar to a GTA style sandbox game. Don't let the fact that it's an Arcade title throw you off. This game is arguably the most ambitious Arcade title ever made. Think of it more as a budget release akin to Deadly Premonition, Earth Defense Force 2017, or Beyond Good and Evil.

The particular post-Apocalypse you'll be surviving is of the zombie variety, but this game is not about exploding rotting skulls. While combat is a necessity, you'll find stealth, a decent set of wheels, or just flat out running your butt off will do more to extend your lifespan than trying to stand your ground and be King poo poo Badass.

The real meat of the game will be about managing your relationship with other survivors who have their own wants, personality traits and skills that can help, hinder or do nothing at all (Did someone say trivia night?), building a base for you and yours to while away Armageddon in, and scavenging the map for necessary supplies of which there's only a finite amount of in the world. The map itself is 16 sq. km, roughly the size of GTA III, but nearly every building in the game has a full interior that you can enter, baring a few minor exceptions. Most of the map will be accessible right from the beginning.

So to sum up, the game is not this:

It's this:

Okay, I lied there's still plenty of this:

BREAK DOWN

I. The Survivors or Marcus and Me:

No man is an island, especially so when that island is in an ocean of undead cannibals. You start every game as Marcus, a young man returning from a two week camping trip to find a world infested by the murderous dead, and will begin to meet other NPCs almost immediately. A handful of these NPCs are story critical and static every game, but the vast majority of NPCs are randomly generated. Once you convince these characters to join your efforts, and they trust you enough, you'll be able to hop into their body and play as them at any time. Which is going to be useful for a few reasons.

The biggest of which is that this game has perma-death. When a character dies, that's it, there ain't no bringing them back. Which means poor Marcus there probably won't see the end of the game. If a character you're controlling dies then you simply take control of a different character, so don't worry about your game ending because something unfortunate happens. Story critical NPCs can't die until their part of the story has passed, but you also can't control them.

Survivors, including the one you control, can be become exhausted, injured, or mentally unstable and need time to rest, medical treatment, or counseling. Sure you can still use them, but you may as well start digging that grave now.

They also have their own personality. Some people may be good at comforting people, or a coward, or fickle, or just mean. All of which can have their own benefits and detriments. Sure you could just kick out that rear end in a top hat, but he could refuse to go, which may cause problems for your leadership. Or maybe he does decide to go, but loots your supply racks first. You could always take him on short stroll through zombie town, but what if he's the only person that knows how to fix an engine? These personalities can result in things from a simple lovers quarrel:

So, apparently two of the guys in my base (Damian, an Autocratic ex-Cop who is a massive overbearing rear end in a top hat, and Victor, a Flirtatious Fitness Guru and classically-trained professional Dancer with skill in Sexting) are sleeping together, and they just got into a huge lovers' argument, and it's bringing everyone at the base down, resulting in a Morale penalty. I love the little touches in the game like this.

To your camp dividing into factions over whether or not the band Foghat rules (this actually happened to me).

Each NPC has their own sets of skills. Besides the obvious combat skills they could be mechanics, or chefs, or a pretty dang good figure skater. Some of these skills will have uses during the end of days, and others not so much. The number of useful skills will be around the 14-17 range with the amount of useless skills numbering similar. A Chef for example has a pretty obvious use, they can cook a feast for everyone to put them in good spirits and better health (You remembered to pick up the steaks though right?). Just because someone has no obvious skills doesn't mean they're useless though, sometimes all you need is someone to swing a hammer and haul some wood.

You can also radio home for advice, words of encouragement, or companions to help loot and carry supplies, or you could get friendly with other survivor groups to trade with or radio for different benefits. Like a sharp shootin' hill folk to come watch your back, or a horde of riot geared clad police officers to come bash skulls with you.

II. Base Building or Better Homes and Perimeter Defenses:

There are 8 structures in the game that you can set up a home base inside, these buildings tend to distinguish themselves by having perimeter walls or fences. Inside bases you can set up facilities ranging from kitchens, beds, infirmaries, gardens, workshops, better defenses, to even a freaking dojo. These facilities have their own functions you can utilize, such as canning foodstuffs, teaching your other survivors to improve their combat prowess, or even checking out your library books to other survivor groups in exchange for bullets. You can also set up watch towers with sharp shooters to pick off zombies before they get to close, since they will inevitably stumble upon your base. What you can set up inside your base is limited to the size of the structure, but that doesn't mean biggest is best. You're going to need enough people to defend it and supplies to maintain it. You may find that a smaller base is easier to manage, in fact some people have played all the way to the end with out ever leaving their dinky starter base.

As well as earning possible bonuses from having certain facilities there are possible detriments from not having the right facilities. If the base doesn't have enough beds for everyone you'll find survivors sleeping in chairs and on the floor. If this isn't addressed they'll have difficulty getting sleep, start becoming exhausted and irritable, needing more time to rest up, and they may get eventually become so fed up that they leave the base all together in search of more amicable accommodations.

While you can only have a single home base at a time, you can also set up to 8 Outposts inside any structure you can enter, once you have checked it out and made sure it's safe, of course. Outpost can generate supplies, set booby traps, spot hordes of zombies, have a supply locker, and even serve as a rally point for missing survivors. They are very handy things indeed.

III. Supplies or Off Brand Snack Foods and Other Essentials:

There's a finite number of supplies in the game. No goodie fairy comes in the night and restocks the building you looted, what you found is what you get. While the buildings themselves aren't randomly generated, they won't have the same loot and loot spots every game either, these are randomly generated with in reason (Grocers will have food, gun stores will have weapons, etc.). You can grow food, and make some things such as silencers, and Molotov cocktails, but you're going to be relying mostly on what you can scavenge. You're going to need a lot; food, medicine, weapons, building materials, and even gas for the base's generators are all going to be invaluable.

You're also faced with a choice once you find the supplies. If you find a stash of food do you break it down for snacks to keep your own character's stamina up or do you send it back to the base for everyone else? Same with ammunition, and possibly other things.

Weapons can wear down as well. Melee weapons can shatter causing you to lose them completely, and firearms can become so degraded as to be useless. Of course you can always build a workshop and send the weapons there, where an NPC can fix them up good as new if given the time.

Oh, did I mention there's 99 guns in the game:
(Note: This pic is out of date and is missing about a dozen firearms, and thanks The Vampirate)

Then there's the vehicles. There are roughly 10 vehicles types, and just like other resources, there's a finite amount of automobiles in the game as well. Where you leave your vehicles is where they stay, and in what ever condition you left them in, for the rest of the game, or until you move them. Yes, that means you can circle your base with cars to create a barricade. If you somehow manage to destroy every car on the map, there's also rumor of a shady car dealer some where in the area that might be willing to help you out if he likes you. Zombies are surprisingly adept at dismantling vehicles, when a car starts to get beaten up you can drop it off at your base's garage where, if you have an advanced enough workshop survivors will attempt to repair it over time. Having someone that knows how to use a wrench for something other than caving in skulls can help the process along.

IV. Combat or Swinging for the Bleachers:

While you are controlling a character they can level up their combat skills such as firearms and melee, and eventually even begin to specialize with certain weapon types. They'll have a better chance at a one hit kill, and also learn a number of new moves such as decapitation attacks, a suplex, a WWE style flying drop kick, or how to pick up two zombies and clonk their heads together like a couple coconuts as they gain experience. A lot of the special melee move animations are just this side of over the top to be fun and memorable. Survivors can also learn how to better handle and maintain a firearm, so they'll become more accurate shots and their weapons won't degrade as fast, and have the potential to unlock a Max Payne style slow down for the truly exceptional shooters.

Discretion is the better part of valor is the developers motto for this game, and it shows. Before you attack a dead head you need to ask yourself a number of questions. How much noise am I going to make? How many buddies does it have? Do I have an avenue of escape? If you're going to melee it you need to make sure your gal has the energy to handle it, or at least some snacks to restore her stamina just in case. If she's going to use a gun you need to be sure you can make the shot, because head shots are the only way to bring a zombie down permanently and you need to think about how your gunshots will echo through out the surrounding area or the noise could attract attention in unexpected ways. Sound management is present in almost every aspect of the game. Zombies are attracted to noise and light, but have the eyesight of Mr. Magoo. Which means sneaking away will usually be the wiser choice.

There's a full, and very useful, stealth system in place in the game as well, complete with stealth kills. It relies mostly on sound, but at night light can become a very important factor.

There will be a variety of zombies, while shambling walkers will be the bread and butter. A survivor should be able to comfortably outrun them, but they are capable of some speed. There's also armored SWAT and military zombies that will need some serious firepower to take out if you plan on shooting them, and various freak zombies. Freaks are rare zombie types that have abnormal abilities such as releasing noxious gas clouds upon death, unleashing a powerful shriek that can stun you and alert other zombies, or being super nimble and aggressive. There's no zombies with guns, or any such nonsense.

Zombies can, and will, stumble upon your base and outposts and lay siege to them. They can also take over unoccupied buildings that, if not cleared out, will act as a zombie beacon/spawn that will draw more of the slack jaws to the area.

Reality Check:

I thought it would be a good idea to list some things that Undead Labs has confirmed not to have in the game, so people can temper their expectations accordingly.

-Vehicles can not be used to haul cargo, nor do they require fuel. They're just for getting around. They do have extensive damage modeling and can be pulled apart by zombies. There's about 10 different types of vehicles in the game, and the vehicles appearance is randomized.

-Super small structures such as trailer homes can not be entered, since it causes camera issues. There is supposed to be very few such structures in the game.

-No multi-player at launch, but they hope to add at least co-op post launch, if the game does well. The sequel, if it ever gets made, will be an MMO. The MMO's working title will be Class 4. This game's working title was Class 3. It's a Zombie Survival Guide reference. Multi-player will not be happening this game.

-No human on human combat. Events will arise where you may have to kill another person, but you're not going to be shooting it out with other survivor groups. You can gently caress up survivors though, and they'll get pissed at you and lose trust.

-There will be only a single difficulty/game type at launch. The developers have shown an interest in adding an ironman/pure survivor mode post launch.They are working on a Survival Mode DLC

-The final mission will end the game. There's no post game stuff. So if you don't want your game to end don't play the last mission. The developers suggest playing through the game once, and then on subsequent plays ignoring the last mission if you want to do a survival run. The game will create an auto-save before the final mission, so you can carry on doing the survival thing.

-No making your own character or character customization. You will be able to level up survivors and choose how they level, but you won't be able to choose their starting skills or appearance. That stuff is random.

-Don't expect to be able to lone wolf it.

GUIDES:
Read these even if you don't think you need to. You might learn something. More helpful tidbits in the second post.

The Fresh Meat Guide to Survival in Trumbull Valley
or
"How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Horde"
------------------------------------------------------
Okay. You just got back from a camping trip with your buddy Ed. You met this hotty, Maya, up at the lake after Ed's fumbling attempts at picking up the bait shop girl failed, but Maya's got a bit of a chip on her shoulder, and anyway it's pretty tough to get some quality privacy time together, when you've gotta time-share bunks in a church with ten people.
Think "Space Camp" , not "Band Camp."

So what're ya gonna do now? That stick ain't gonna last forever, and every time you go outside and start running somewhere, you're suddenly all tired out and then piled on by zombies and then poo poo gets out of hand. God forbid you go into a house and start trying to look for weapons and food, every single goddamned time, it's like you just rang the dinner bell!

Well boys and girls, have no fear! We're here to set you straight on the road out of Trumbull Valley, and we're gonna do a whole lot of rear end-kickin' along the way!

First Things First, we'll quickly go through some of the game's interface. I am concentrating on NPC skills and combat, rather than base building - someone else can talk about that if they'd like.

Controls (yes, you need to read this. Most people seem to have played for many hours without knowing about all of these)X - Attack.Y - Interact With, or (in combat) Kick/Push-Away.B - Duck away. This is your basic dodge move.A - Jump. This is also a jumping ATTACK by itself, when in combat.LB - Similar to Saints Row 3's 'awesome' button (it allows you to shoulder-charge through locked doors, for instance). This is your sprint button, and it also modifies your other buttons when held down in combat, to give you...

SPECIAL MOVESLB + X - Heavy attack. LB + Y - Special attack - usually a knockback or knockdown of some type, depends on skills and specializations.LB + B - Rolling dodge. This turns you into Ryu Hayabusa. It also sends zombies reeling slightly, and can be used to knock them off of survivors, etc.LB + A - Jumping kick attack. Think Mike Haggar's kick from 'Fists of Fury'. This move is a lifesaver, and will knock down most opponents over 90% of the time - this is what I rely on to deal with Ferals when I have no car, or am playing a low-level character. Learn it. Love it. Live it.

Other control trivia:
- Dodging allows you to clip through survivors' character models. This is a HUGE help when going through indoor environments with a couple of NPCs.
- There seems to be a difference between tapping and holding buttons, at least with the special maneuvers you can choose as your skills go up. I have no idea how to do the strong kick for instance, I think that it's a long hold on the Y button however, I've simply never used it, and when I tried to experiment, I never really seemed to knock anything down as effectively as it seemed it should.
- Guns which possess a magazine can generally have one live round chambered, on top of the maximum clip size. Just reload, then reload again. Revolvers and some other guns such as break-action shotguns, for instance, cannot chamber a shell in this manner, for obvious reasons.

Okay, Now What? - Character progression and menus.
- You can specialize in a weapon at Fighting/Shooting rank 4. Do this ASAP for every character, but think about it before doing so - is that woman with Reflex a character that can pack a 10 lb sledgehammer? Is that guy who will eventually replace his dodge attacks with wrestling moves, suitable to be moving fast and light with a machete? Is that ex-soldier with shooting bonuses, really going to be wading in, or should you think about speccing into assault rifles? Maybe the answer is yes, but consider factors such as a weapon type's average durability (blades are flimsy, heavy weapons can last for several in-game days of exploring and steady combat, blunt have great knockback and speed but aren't good at hitting multiple opponents, etc) average weight, and what other skills you possess which would synergize with your plan for that character.

- Everybody has a number of stars in their skills, going up to 7. Everyone has a certain number of skill slots (6 or 7, can't recall offhand) which seem to always end up filling with something. I am unsure if doing stuff like spamming dodge rolls can force a character to pick up a certain trait such as Reflex, although I've had Ed spontaneously gain the Reflex skill after a day or so of exploration, and women survivors have picked up Powerhouse the same way, so they don't seem gender-based as I first assumed (possibly gender-biased, though). If a character hasn't picked up a full compliment of skills yet, you might rethink specializing in a weapon type until you know what they'll turn into - weapon skills go up very quickly.

- As a rule of thumb, you can mostly safely assume that hitting level 4 in a skill, will generally allow you to choose one of two special abilities. Reflex characters get dodgey-knockback-y type stuff, Powerhouse characters get Suplex moves and stuff, which tends to replace their dodge in many cases. Weapons each have skills as well, such as instant kill moves, sweep attacks, or ground-pound moves, etc.

- To specialize in a skill, hold UP on the D-Pad, then tap the right shoulder once, to get to the "star" tab. Then scroll downward until you see a couple of icons. Tap A to read their description and how to use them, tap X to select the skill and THEN HOLD X AGAIN to choose the skill. This is annoying but it's intended to keep people from accidentally selecting a skill, I guess. You'll get used to it.

- All skills have a verbose description and show what you can potentially gain at each level, if you select them and hit A it will show a column of icons with abilities and bonuses listed. I'm not entirely sure that every skill can go up to 7, Counseling for instance, only shows 4 ranks, and I've never seen a character gain any more Counseling skill while playing, even by doing Anger Management quests, etc.

D-pad Up – Journal LB/RB over to the furthest right tab for the construction menu
D-Pad Down - Radio

The number of Outposts you have is limited by your base. Snyder Trucking and Fair Grounds can have the most with 8. Outposts have their own supply lockers that are connected to your base supply locker, so you don't have to run all the way back to your base to empty your inventory or resupply. Rucksacks can not be dropped off at Outposts and must be taken to your base. They can also serve as safe zones, potential rally points for missing survivors, and can generate small amounts of supplies for a period, if there are any left inside the building, every 24 real time hours. Most importantly they can be booby trapped to wipe out hordes that pass nearby, which means by placing them around your base you can drastically reduce the amount of zombie horde assaults. You regain 1 use of the ability every real time hour with a total of 5 uses in reserve.

Placing an Outpost
1. Clear a building that is not a potential home site by going to all the dots on the mini-map, killing any zombies, and searching all the loot spots.(Note: Loot spots need only be searched, not emptied)
2. Make sure you are inside the building then bring up your radio menu and select “Establish Outpost”. It costs 50 Influence and happens instantly.(You can also place them in groves and campsites. Stand near the map icon or in the tent if there is one.)

Removing an Outpost
1. Open your journal and go to the construction menu and select the Outpost you would like removed from the icons at the bottom of the screen.(Note: It doesn't identify where the Outpost is on the map so it is important to remember the order in which you place and remove them)
2. Select the green X icon.

Booby Trapping Outposts
1. Go to the construction menu and select an Outpost, doesn't matter which one.
2. Select the mine icon to place booby traps and extend the safe zone of all your Outposts. It costs 1 Fuel. It happens instantly initially, but once triggered traps take a few minutes to reset. They will reset automatically for 24 hours real time, after which you must again set them manually.(Outposts will still have booby trap range with a much smaller range if you don't set them)

I ignored it for a long time without consequence but I can't say for sure that it has no consequence for ignoring it. You shouldn't need to feel rushed though.

To add to this, the randomly generated missions (Go here check out this thing, type stuff) have a time limit, for a fact. It's very generous though and seems to be around 1-2 real time hours.

-This game says it's going take 24 hours to build the thing. What the hell?

It's not a bug, it's not broken, and it is in real time. The timer keeps counting down even while you're not playing the game, so do the smaller projects while you're playing the game, and set the big ones just before you turn the game off. These times are going to be reduced in TU2.

-My base is for people, not zombies, why are there so many undead inside it?

There's probably an infestation or too many zombie hordes roaming around your base. Try clearing some of those out. Try and pay attention to radio messages as well, they'll inform you when a horde is heading towards the base. If you can't find the infestations try driving around or using the survey spots.

-How do I get other survivors to accompany me?

Short answer is, you can't. Not explicitly at least. As of TU3 you can now ask a community member to follow you.

-I can't find X supply.

Go to your construction menu (hold up on the d-pad select the tab furthest to the right) select the radio room (the one that looks a little broadcasting tower) and you should be able to ask for help locating suspected locations for a specific supply.

-My sneak attacks don't work.

The zombie noticed you at the last second, or you're standing too far away. Alternatively, try holding down LB before you press Y. Don't worry it won't make you sprint off or stand up or anything. Also hold down Y don't just tap it.

Also, something I don't think the game ever explains, or at least doesn't go in depth, is to wander around houses before searching them. You'll see little circles on the minimap which are like exploration markers. Once you've been to them all, it'll put a "safe" circle around the building, which seems to decrease the likelihood of zombies hearing loud noises while you search as well as marking any zombies still in the circle.

-Can I trade inventory items directly between survivors in my group?

No, you have to use the stash. Some items do cost more to take out than you get for putting them in, but the difference is usually negligible, so don't sweat it.

-I have an advanced workshop, but no one is fixing my cars.

The car you would like repaired must be parked in one of the parking slots at your base. If you check your construction menu it will show where they are (it's the little car symbol).

If you've got a smaller base (ie not Snyder) without storage, it makes much less sense to just haul rucksacks of everything you see because once you hit a certain threshold all surplus will just get tossed out overnight (since apparently ammo and wood are very sensitive to the elements, and gasoline goes bad when left out). Outposts only draw resources from whatever's still in the building but at a lower continuous rate, something like 2 per day or something, whereas a rucksack will yield the full 5-15 units (depending on the resource) instantly. In practical terms, this means that propping up an outpost in a gun shop will see the effective daily ammo usage rate drop by two (so instead of the count going down by 5 every day, it goes down by 3). Of course if you end up at Snyder this is more or less immaterial. But at a certain margin, drawing resources from outposts is smarter than just raiding them outright.

-List of Potential Bases:

Church of the Ascension. (Your first real base)
Kirkman Residence (Center of Spencer's Mill)
McReady's Farmhouse (In the middle of the field between Marshall and Spencer's Mill.Head West out of Spencer's Mill and take the first road South.)
Savini Residence (North Central Marshall)
Snyder Trucking Warehouse (West Marshall)
The Alamo (East Marshall)Trumbull County Fairgrounds (Northwest Corner of Map)
Ranger Station (Tutorial base on the mountain. You can go back and reclaim it)

HOT TIPS FROM COOL PEOPLE:

-How do I increase trust for other survivor groups or get more people?

You can invite random people by going to your construction menu selecting your Radio Room then select "Make a Radio Call looking for Survivors" It costs 100 influence.

If a survivor group turns green on the map from trust or whatever, you can head over there and talk to them with the Y button and a dialog will pop up where you can let them join you or tell them to gently caress off or whatever. Try to check out their stats/expertise if you can first instead of randomly letting everyone join you like I did.

Sometimes you'll get missions to go help them as well, which give a pretty decent chunk of trust.

Ferals: These assholes are dangerous on your own. They do a lot of damage and love to knock you down repeatedly. They are, however not much tougher than regular zombies. A shot to the head will kill them immediately and they're capable of being knocked over for a finisher with a few heavy attacks.

Screamer: Basically the scrapped left4dead special. Basically screams to attract other zombies which also stuns you if you're close. A silenced bullet to it's head works well considering it's slow and has a fat head. If you can't, it's possible to rush up to it and shove to interrupt it's scream.

SWAT/Army zombies: Basically immune to bullets. Just bash their head in, no more powerful than regular zombies, honestly.

Bloater: The #1 reason for bailing your ride into a ditch or a nearby river. These dicks are basically kamikazes that explode into acid clouds that drain your stamina and health quickly. If you hit one with your car, it'll coat the vehicle and drain you while you're driving for a while. A shot to the gut instead of the head kills them safely

Big bastard: These are basically the closest thing to a boss zombie there is. Takes a lot of damage and multiple shots to the swaying head to kill. Best to keep your distance and unload your guns and any firebombs at it's face.Try to stay away from melee as it's grab attack is hugely damaging. If it grabs an ally, Rush in and begin swinging to make it drop your buddy. If you're lucky enough to have them on the open road, cars will knock them down, and a fast or heavy enough vehicle will kill them if you slam the gas and hit them again before they get up.

Here's a tip: You have a maximum limit on how much influence you can store every 24 hours. The limit goes up when your fame goes up (I've noticed the journal says fame goes up when I level a skill) but beyond that, you should spend what you've got. Spend it on outposts and scavenger runners. Better yet, make a point to escort the scavenger runners when they get where they are so you can get friendship points with them and earn the ability to control them. It all feeds into each other.

Turbo button + B causes your character to roll dodge, which is essential for avoiding his attacks. If you have someone with you, just whack him from behind when he attacks them until he's dead, if you're by yourself, look for anything that could explode like propane tanks, whiskey barrels, or cars that are on fire and shoot them when he's near them. If you don't have anything explosive on hand, get him to ram into a wall a couple of times when he does his charge attacks, he'll eventually become stunned for a few seconds which gives you enough time to either shoot him in the head (takes about 5 o 6 shots from a descent gun) or whack him a few times. Just repeat as many times as necessary.

If you upgrade your watchtower or build a dojo, you should be swimming in offers to train outsiders in exchange for ammo. There are also those trade missions, but they don't happen nearly often enough. Also, the town in the northwest is totally drowning in ammo resources if you haven't been there yet.

The Library works for this as well.

girth brooks part 2 fucked around with this message at Sep 23, 2013 around 05:53

Well, this does look pretty drat interesting. While the whole zombie-shebang is a little tired by now, the rebuilding/society-aspect tends to get completely overlooked in terms of gameplay. I'll be sure to keep an eye on this.

It's expected to be headlining the Summer of Arcade (Winter of Arcade for you Aussies) event, which usually doesn't start until July, so possibly later in June. That doesn't mean much though, because games have come out before Summer of Arcade before and still been a part of it. I'll update the OP once they give a more specific date or time frame.

Sorry about the double post, but Undead Labs streamed a couple of hours of game play earlier today. I sleep during the day, so I didn't find out about it until after the fact. Sorry, about not giving everyone a heads up

Good lord the idea for this game sounds goddamn perfect. Its like TellTales' TWD without the story but all the survival gameplay that it didn't have. May be the first game I foolishly pre-order in years.

I have been following this game since I said the game might be a "meh arcade" game in the first thread. Since then I started to really like it and have high hopes for it, then recently fell back down to meh.

Here is what I worried about right now If anyone can debunk my worries I would be happy. I want to like this game.

From what I saw so far they are completely focusing on "Hey our game is a real zombie survival sandbox game!" in their press coverage. But then they throw around things like the fact that you are stuck with the story no matter what and once you do the last mission, the games over. This leads me to wonder if they don't fully believe in their survival sandbox to provide a fulfilling experience. If they did they would offer a sandbox mode. They are praising their awesome sandbox and survival gameplay, while the development choices seem to contradicts it. For instance, there is no resources that you need. There are bullets, but guns are optional. There is food, but eating is optional. There is medicine, but why get hurt for them just to use them? There is zero survival aspect to the game. None. This game is a "survival sim" as much as Call of Duty zombie mode is. Which hurts the sandbox experience I was looking for.

I have been following this game since I said the game might be a "meh arcade" game in the first thread. Since then I started to really like it and have high hopes for it, then recently fell back down to meh.

Here is what I worried about right now If anyone can debunk my worries I would be happy. I want to like this game.

From what I saw so far they are completely focusing on "Hey our game is a real zombie survival sandbox game!" in their press coverage. But then they throw around things like the fact that you are stuck with the story no matter what and once you do the last mission, the games over. This leads me to wonder if they don't fully believe in their survival sandbox to provide a fulfilling experience. If they did they would offer a sandbox mode. They are praising their awesome sandbox and survival gameplay, while the development choices seem to contradicts it. For instance, there is no resources that you need. There are bullets, but guns are optional. There is food, but eating is optional. There is medicine, but why get hurt for them just to use them? There is zero survival aspect to the game. None. This game is a "survival sim" as much as Call of Duty zombie mode is. Which hurts the sandbox experience I was looking for.

I can't say for certain on why they have the story mode, but I think it's to give something familiar to people. The lack of a pure survival mode, can be chalked up to lack of time and resources. They have shown an interest in adding a pure survival mode after launch, but they're kind of at the point where the game needs to start making money before they can do anything else.

Food and medicine are necessary and not optional. Yes, you can use them in the field for quick boosts, but you are going to need them at the base. People need to eat, and can get sick. If you don't have these things people will start to get weak, grumpy, and may begin to leave or die. People can definitely die if you don't have medicine for them when they fall ill.

EDIT: Maybe the Chef is throwing you off. They can cook a nice meal for everyone that has some bonuses, but people will still need to eat otherwise.

girth brooks part 2 fucked around with this message at Apr 23, 2013 around 22:40

Was anyone working on this also working on the cancelled Dead Rush from several years ago? The concept is pretty similar, I gotta say I'm extremely excited about this game. I'm really excited that you need to track food and medicine separately.

Likewise I kind of think this is a Spore-like scenario where the feature list sounds great but when you cash it out in terms of game play it'll be pretty underwhelming. The unique selling point of this game to me is the building and maintaining of a base in a zombie game. Cool right? But in terms of implementation, you can choose from 6 preset locations and within your location you can decide vaguely where to place a limited number of preset 'rooms'. That is not going to occupy a significant amount of gameplay at all. So with that aspect on the margins, you're going to spend most of your time doing cookie-cutter zombie fighting stuff.

I don't see why people think this is breaking the XBLA mold. This looks to me like an arcade title through and through.

Food and medicine are necessary and not optional. Yes, you can use them in the field for quick boosts, but you are going to need them at the base. People need to eat, and can get sick. If you don't have these things people will start to get weak, grumpy, and may begin to leave or die. People can definitely die if you don't have medicine for them when they fall ill.

gently caress the people.

But no I kid. I didn't know they really needed you to do all the finding things for them. Till I get a garden that is.

That wasn't everything though, that was something that popped into my mind. The feeling this game will be normal arcade is too hard to explain I guess(I'm terrible with words already). When I stop thinking about it and just watch gameplay it looks great. If I start to analyze it I just get the feeling there isn't much too it. Perhaps the mechanics are showing too much or it just my lizard brain. Guess we will see.

Was anyone working on this also working on the cancelled Dead Rush from several years ago? The concept is pretty similar, I gotta say I'm extremely excited about this game. I'm really excited that you need to track food and medicine separately.

Not that I'm aware of. I'm glad someone else remembers that game though, it's the first thing I thought of when I saw this.

Likewise I kind of think this is a Spore-like scenario where the feature list sounds great but when you cash it out in terms of game play it'll be pretty underwhelming. The unique selling point of this game to me is the building and maintaining of a base in a zombie game. Cool right? But in terms of implementation, you can choose from 6 preset locations and within your location you can decide vaguely where to place a limited number of preset 'rooms'. That is not going to occupy a significant amount of gameplay at all. So with that aspect on the margins, you're going to spend most of your time doing cookie-cutter zombie fighting stuff.

I don't see why people think this is breaking the XBLA mold. This looks to me like an arcade title through and through.

But no I kid. I didn't know they really needed you to do all the finding things for them. Till I get a garden that is.

That wasn't everything though, that was something that popped into my mind. The feeling this game will be normal arcade is too hard to explain I guess(I'm terrible with words already). When I stop thinking about it and just watch gameplay it looks great. If I start to analyze it I just get the feeling there isn't much too it. Perhaps the mechanics are showing too much or it just my lizard brain. Guess we will see.

Well that is a worry. I have it myself, but to be fair that's true of every game. There's a chance it may not be everything they promised. I do have confidence in the developers because they have been very honest about what they can and can't do. At the end of the day though will just have to wait and see. I hope the fears are unfounded.

As for the base building, well no you're probably not going to be spending most of the game staring at the menu and building structures. You're going to have to scavenge for supplies to build and maintain them, finding other survivors with the know how to effectively use those structures, and keeping those people happy and healthy. It probably won't be just slapping down a kitchen, workshop, and infirmary and calling it day. Chances are a base, especially the smaller ones, aren't going to have room for everything, so you may find yourself building stuff you need at the expense of stuff you want.

I had this edited into the last post, but I thought I'd throw it in this so people would actually see it. I did a little poking around and here is the list of facilities that they've shown you can build:

Work area, Medical area, and the Storage area have been confirmed to have multiple levels. Also your fences can be upgraded. There are generators, but I don't know if that's something you build, it's just part of a base, or some third thingie. There does appear to be more, but that may just be the watch tower since the menu only displays seven at a time. They've been really good about not scrolling the build menu past the first page, but there is an arrow indicating at least one other page.

I can't put my finger on it, but the trailers make the game look.. bizarrely stilted? It looks like an extremely guided action experience rather than an emergent survival game. What I see in the trailers seems at odds with the concept.

I can't put my finger on it, but the trailers make the game look.. bizarrely stilted? It looks like an extremely guided action experience rather than an emergent survival game. What I see in the trailers seems at odds with the concept.

From what the articles I've read have said, the first hour or so is fairly hand holdy, which is where most of the footage is from. Once you get to a certain point in the game it opens up and has the opposite problem, where it just drops you off with a bunch of new toys, and little direction or explanation as to how to play with them.

"Apocalypse Management Simulator" is such a great idea I keep thinking it would be even better if you had more than bog-standard zombies in it.

The crazy idea part of my brain came up with: How about more mythological monsters popping up, and you learn that the apocalypse is being caused by a sorcerer trying to annihilate mankind, but you fight back and rebuild using a combination of realistic society management and teaching your survivors a little magic of their own? Featured box art: A young woman with a baseball bat glowing with magical power, fending off a circle of monsters.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth;
Put out my hand, and taunted the opposing defense.

So to summarize the OP: This is a not-poo poo version of Fort Zombie?

Hell, sign me up. I played Fort Zombie to death, and that game was objectively terrible. And Zafehouse Diaries, even though it was pretty much a 15-dollar Flash game. The idea is so compelling that even the most half-assed execution becomes worth playing.

quote:

"Apocalypse Management Simulator" is such a great idea I keep thinking it would be even better if you had more than bog-standard zombies in it.

The crazy idea part of my brain came up with: How about more mythological monsters popping up, and you learn that the apocalypse is being caused by a sorcerer trying to annihilate mankind, but you fight back and rebuild using a combination of realistic society management and teaching your survivors a little magic of their own? Featured box art: A young woman with a baseball bat glowing with magical power, fending off a circle of monsters.

I did like Fort Zombies' take on the Apocalypse, story-wise. They never really explained much, but reading between the lines, some kind of Cthulu-esque monster is wrapping his tendrils around our reality, and anyone who couldn't resist his malign influence became part of the first wave of zombies. Getting bitten doesn't necessarily infect you, but it can if you believe that being bitten infects you--if you lose hope and your will to resist weakens, you get zombified yourself.

So you'd have people in the safehouse who had never been bitten become zombies because they saw their wife or child be eaten and thought "what's the point of going on anymore?"

A young woman with a baseball bat glowing with magical power, fending off a circle of monsters.

I'm all for more games including the Excalibat. I honestly kind of wish they went whole hog and started throwing send ups of classic movie monsters in the game, just so I could have a 3D Cataclysm game.

I noticed the other night that the base building, from what they've shown, seems to have a few things in common with Firaxis' XCOM game. You have even have to excavate/clean up areas before you can build in them.

Just a heads up, there will be another stream, possibly some time this week. They mentioned there should be another one this week during the last one, and they're asking for things people would like to see in it on their Facebook.

EDIT: Also here's all the community Q&A's they've done. A couple of the answers are a little out of date, but not many (i.e. They mention trying to get fuel working for vehicles in regards to one question, but they decided later it wasn't worth it):

quote:

I haven't even told you about emotional states yet. These include Calm, Pride, Hope, Fear, Sadness, Anger or Shame, and can have dramatic effects in tandem with a character's traits. An Insensitive character may be utterly unbearable company when she's feeling Proud, for instance (though she'll have higher morale as a consequence), while a Born Leader may come into their own under the influence of Hope.

Just because somebodies feeling good about themselves, doesn't necessarily mean it's good for the group at large. I'm curious if there's a way to knock someone down a peg if they start behaving like an arrogant prick.

Looks like Undead Labs is having a survivalist cooking contest of all things. Winner and the People's Choice both get a preview code for the game. There's going to be another contest next week, same prize.

No more streams for the time being. They had some planned, but canceled them so they could have everyone on hand to work on squashing bugs before the release.

That's really about it for news.

I did a little more looking around, and found another structure you can build that they showed off. The library, it can only be built indoors and allows you to better research things. The examples they gave for research were upgrading your garden into a green house, and learning to make your own fuel. If you have a survivor with the "good researcher" trait and a library then you can have them teach your other survivors to increase their wits.

There's a wiki already up for the game. Not much new info in there from what I could tell, but I didn't poke around much. Though, there are dozens of pics up already on it.

Apparently, even though doing the final mission will end the game, it will create an auto save just before the mission, so you can load it up once your done and continue on doing the survival thing. https://twitter.com/undeadlabs

If anyone has any questions about the game ask it on their twitter. Sanya, their Manager of Community (or something like that, she has a weird title, but she's their professional nerd wrangler), is really good about answering them. Even if the answer is just "I can't answer that."

From what the videos have shown, the turbo button works a lot like Saints Row 3's awesome button. It's the sprint button, but when used in conjunction with other actions it makes them more dynamic. Use it while climbing through a window and you'll jump through it, use it while attacking and you'll do a heavy type attack, etc. I don't think you can awesome jack a car with it, sadly.